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Sharp as a Briar
Episode 3, Season 7 of War. Enjoy <3 Sharp as a Briar "No." Grayleaf glared at Adderscar. Or, at least, tried to glare. It was rather hard to take him seriously. "You have to take me." "Actually, I don't." Adderscar straightened, licking his paw. They were in the medicine den and Grayleaf was preparing a bundle of poppy seeds, in case Adderscar's leg started bothering him on whatever insane adventures he went on. Insane adventures that Grayleaf apparently wanted to join. "I don't want to stay here," Grayleaf said miserably. "They're all..." he seemed to brace himself, like he was about to say something truly terrible. "Going through big stuff. And I just don't want to be around them right now." Adderscar's whiskers twitched. "Now you know how I feel all the time." He hooked a paw around the slipped dock leaf and pulled it towards him. Somehow, Grayleaf had folded it so that none of the poppy seeds fell out, and Adderscar could carry it in his mouth or under his chin. "Look, Grayleaf," Adderscar sighed. "You're nice. Annoyingly so. Also you can't fight. So...thanks, but no thanks." Turning, Adderscar padded out of the den. After a moment, he heard pawsteps behind him, catching up. He tried to walk faster, but with a broken leg and all, it wasn't easy. Grayleaf did catch up, as they made their way out of Main. His green eyes were set with determination and he didn't say anything which surprised Adderscar. The medicine cat was the type to ask permission. "It's not even really my decision," Adderscar grumbled finally. They passed under a tree, and he stopped to take a break. Grayleaf remained standing, watching some birds in the sky. "It'll be whoever the squad leader is." "What squad did you volunteer for anyways?" Grayleaf asked. The words came out in a burst, like he had been bottling up all his questions and was trying to get as many as possible answered now. "Where are we going? What's the mission?" Adderscar blinked at him. "You don't even know that? Stars, have you ever tried thinking?" Grayleaf didn't answer. After a few more minutes, Adderscar stood, wincing a little. "Let's go," he grumbled. He led the way through WaterClan territory, a path in his head guiding him. The squad was supposed to meet near the Silver Forest, and that was close. As much as he hated to admit it, Adderscar would almost have rather had an annoying chattering Grayleaf than this silent cat behind him. Part of Adderscar's training had been learning how to profile cats. How to look for weaknesses, relationships that could be exploited, how to lie, and so on. Grayleaf kept his thoughts well hidden most of the time, but with this new determination, Adderscar was learning a few things. Grayleaf was lonely. And, perhaps most worrisome, Grayleaf was something Adderscar never really expected from him. Grayleaf was angry. By the time they reached the rendezvous place, Adderscar was mentally exhausted from trying to both watch Grayleaf as well as plan for the upcoming mission as well as speculate what squad he would be with. He knew it was something to do with prisoners of war and spying, but there were a few squads that could have encompassed. Grayleaf disappeared and Adderscar briefly contemplated making a run for it. But with his leg and the squad arriving so soon...he sighed. The medicine cat returned a while later, splattered with mud. His eyes were bright and a pair of mice dangled from his jaws by their tails. "I went hunting," he announced proudly. Obviously. "See? I'm not completely useless!" Adderscar just looked at him until the small tom drooped and sat, picking at his mouse sullenly. Adderscar pulled his own mouse closer and prepared to dig in. "Seriously?" a snide female voice meowed. Adderscar and Grayleaf both looked up. "I told them to send someone good." I hate my life. Briarclaw's narrow green eyes surveyed Adderscar, before they slid over to Grayleaf. She purred. "Hey Grayleaf!" Of course, because Briarclaw and Grayleaf were friends, he got to stay. Adderscar muttered as they sat in a circle. Briarclaw apparently had her own squad now- when she left theirs to join a squad dedicated to rescuing prisoners of war, she worked her way up pretty quickly. "I still miss you though," she said, taking a breath after her quick explanation to Grayleaf. "What's happening? How's Stormflight?" Adderscar glanced over at Grayleaf. The small tom had frozen and the conversation in Briarclaw's squad was slowly dying down. "No," she whispered. "No...How did...?" Grayleaf looked at his paw. "Remember Lionwing?" Briarclaw nodded. "It's a long story but...she killed him. She's dead too though." At this point, who isn't dead? Adderscar thought, ignoring the fact that obviously he and Grayleaf were alive, as well as Briarclaw, her squad, and presumably hundreds of others. But when the universe began to fall in, it only made sense that you should fall a little too. A look of anguish darted over Briarclaw's face, and then she seemed to compartmentalize it. "Well," she meowed, taking a shuddering breath. "That sucks. That sucks dirt." "Yeah," Grayleaf looked up, meeting her eyes. Adderscar wanted to vomit. "So," he meowed loudly. "The mission?" Briarclaw narrowed her eyes, "We're heading to a FireClan prison camp. Then, hopefully to their Main to spy some." Adderscar looked over her squad. Most of them were smaller than the cats he usually worked with. Most of them had that haunted look in their eye that told you they'd lost someone. "All of us? That's stealthy." Rolling her eyes, Briarclaw meowed, "Of course not all of us. StarClan. Just me, you, and Grayleaf." "That ought to go down well," Adderscar muttered. "As long as you don't poison yourself again because Briarclaw annoys you, it'll be okay, right?" Grayleaf meowed brightly. Adderscar couldn't tell if he was being taunted or not, but given Grayleaf's natural innocence, he guessed not. "I didn't poison myself," he muttered. Briarclaw just smirked. She waved her tail and her squad stood. "We'll meet back at the outpost in a moon, alright?" Grayleaf's eyes widened and Adderscar could practically hear him screeching, A MOON?! "That's why you don't just jump on missions," he meowed softly to the gray tom. Grayleaf looked at him, but he didn't say anything. When Adderscar looked back up, Briarclaw's squad had vanished. She looked at the two toms with bright eyes, "You ready?" It took a day of awkward conversations and trotting to reach the FireClan border. Briarclaw was barely out of breath, but Adderscar had started limping heavily. Grayleaf had taken this as an opportunity to inform Briarclaw about the tragic turn of events that had led to Adderscar's leg getting broken. "The camp's not too far away," Briarclaw meowed to Adderscar, reassuringly he supposed. Grayleaf had offered his shoulder to lean on, but Adderscar ignored the medicine cat. "What's it called?" he asked, trying to focus on something other than the fire slowly consuming his leg. "What's the setup? How many prisoners and how many guards?" "It's called Tiger's Den," Briarclaw replied. "It's pretty big, but there aren't a ton of guards, which makes it perfect for these kinds of operations. The last time I was here we were in and out before the sun rose." "The last time?" Grayleaf asked, nervously. Briarclaw nodded, eyes darkening slightly. "Just because we save some cats doesn't mean we get them all. Or FireClan catches some more cats and keeps them in these camps. It's a never-ending cycle." She didn't sound tired, just...like she was explaining something. Simplistic, really. They crested a hill and Briarclaw immediately dropped into a crouch. Grayleaf followed suit quickly and Adderscar awkwardly fell over in what could pass as stealth. "Here's the plan," Briarclaw whispered. She took a breath, her eyes focused on the camp and Adderscar interrupted. "Why do you get to make the plan?" he growled. "Because this is my squad," she told him, fur bristling. "No, you sent your squad off to chase rabbits or something," Adderscar meowed. Briarclaw had only walked back into his life for a day and already she was driving him crazy. "You can't just order us around like this." Briarclaw turned towards Grayleaf and Adderscar cursed inwardly. "You agree with me, right?" "Um," Grayleaf meowed, looking nervously between them. "Can I hear the plans first?" Both cats glared at him and the medicine cat winced. "Okay, okay. Look, this is Briarclaw's mission..." "Forget it," Adderscar spat. He stood, shaking moss out of his fur. "I'll go scout myself. You two do your thing and give a signal or something when you need me." He stalked down the ridge, trying to keep low to the ground and ignoring Briarclaw's furious whispers for him to wait. "He's just...not used to having another brain around," Grayleaf tried to explain for the millionth time. Briarclaw grunted in answer and peered into the dens. "This is the only empty row." She straightened, exhaling. "Alright, so we can't go row to row. The FireClan cats will get wind of it and we'll only rescue a few cats." Grayleaf looked at her doubtfully. "Is there another way to do this?" Briarclaw smirked, but it wasn't the same kind of smirk Oakclaw or Shadowsong or even Adderscar wore. It wasn't an 'I'm-better-than-you' smirk. She was just thinking ahead, thinking about how FireClan was going to rue the day they made an enemy out of her. She looked happy. Briarclaw was never really happy with the old squad. "I've learned a few things in the past few moons," she answered. Grayleaf trusted her. "What about Adderscar?" he asked. "Should we go get him or signal or call or something...?" The brown tabby curled her lip in disgust. "I'm sure Adderscar can take care of himself." Adderscar dodged the guard, slamming into the side of the den in the process. You should have stuck with the others, he chided himself. At least they can kind of fight. Shut up brain. The guard purred, a scar rippling across his face. Adderscar guessed it came from a fox, maybe a badger. The tom was huge and Adderscar had made the mistake of getting himself cornered. "You WaterClan scum never learn, do you?" He swiped his claws down and Adderscar rolled away. They were between the dens now. The prisoners were all asleep and the guard didn't seem to have raised the alarm. Of course, Adderscar was a crippled brain fighting a much larger, stronger warrior. Why would he raise the alarm? "Did you come alone?" the tom growled. "How many more of you are there?" Instead of answering, Adderscar tried to dart between two dens. It would have worked, had his bag leg not gotten snarled in some brambles lurking beneath the ferns. Letting out a short yowl, Adderscar crumpled to the ground. Frantically, he tried to get his leg free. Of course, ever since it had been broken he hadn't had much feeling in it, let alone dexterity. Walking could be difficult enough- trying to get his leg unsnarled from brambles with an angry FireClan cat advancing on him? Forget it. The FireClan tom stepped on the bramble, tightening the hold it had on Adderscar and denying him the looseness he needed to get free. "How many more?" the FireClan tom asked again, leaning in and baring his teeth. "Just me," Adderscar meowed quickly. "My brother's here and-" Black spots danced across his vision as the tom wrenched the brambles, twisting his bad leg. If he had felt like it was on fire after running for a while, this was lightning lacing his leg. And then suddenly, he could see again. Dazedly, he scrambled to free his paw. "Are you okay?" Adderscar blinked, not sure he had heard the voice right. "Grayleaf?!" The small medicine cat was standing by the FireClan tom, grinning a little to himself. Before Adderscar could ask, he said, "Medicine cats know everything there is to know about the body. Including its weak spots." Muttering a thanks, Adderscar tried to stand. It looked like he would be reduced to hopping around for a little bit, on three paws. Wonderful. "Briarclaw needs your help," Grayleaf said. Without asking, he pressed against Adderscar so that the tom could walk better. This time, Adderscar didn't bother to refuse the help. Besides, he was too shocked to think much of it at this new revelation. Grayleaf had knocked out a warrior, Briarclaw needed his help. Maybe miracles did exist. "Just tell me what's wrong," he mumbled, trying to keep himself upright. By the time they arrived to where Briarclaw was pacing, Adderscar had almost passed out twice. Grayleaf helped him sit next to the brown she-cat. "So what's wrong?" Adderscar asked. Briarclaw looked incredibly frustrated. "They won't let me help them." "Who?" "The prisoners in these two rows," she said. "I got the others out all fine, they're headed for WaterClan Main-" "How?" Grayleaf yelped, "I was gone for like, ten minutes!" "-but these cats..." Briarclaw looked at the dens. "They don't want me near them. They smelled the WaterClan and backed away." "Maybe they're rogues?" Grayleaf offered. It wasn't a bad idea, but it didn't quite explain everything. "Are they FireClan who turned tail?" Adderscar asked. "Spied for WaterClan?" "They would want to come with me then!" Briarclaw snapped. "There's something weird about all of this and I don't know what." Adderscar didn't respond. He wasn't exactly the most empathetic cat ever, and honestly, if these cats didn't want to be saved, why bother? But he could imagine Silverflower chiding him. If Gorsefur or Brookfall or Shadowsong were here, they would just save them anyways. Shadowsong... "Let me see them," Adderscar meowed. Briarclaw and Grayleaf helped him walk down the rows, peering into each of the dens. The cats were terrified, but none of them called for help. And Adderscar noticed a pattern. Some of the cats were obviously FireClan, with bright pelts and amber eyes, but others were...different. Black cats with green eyes, ginger cats with blue eyes. Adderscar stopped when he saw a gray tabby with bright blue eyes. "They're FireClan." "Why would FireClan imprison their own cats?" Grayleaf asked. "Yeah, we're kind of in a war if you haven't noticed," Briarclaw meowed sarcastically. "I wasn't done," Adderscar glared at her. He took a deep breath, thinking for a moment. Finally, he said, "They're FireClan...but they're not all FireClan." Grayleaf tipped his head, "What are you saying? They're half-squirrel?" "More like half-fish," Adderscar murmured, his mind racing. Briarclaw's eyes widened, the moon reflected in them. "You don't mean-" "They have WaterClan blood," Adderscar said. "These are cats who have some FireClan blood and some WaterClan. Maybe their mother was WaterClan or their father's mother, but they still have the blood nonetheless. And FireClan found out and decided to imprison them..." "What does it mean?" Grayleaf asked. "That they decided to imprison anyone with mixed blood?" Adderscar smirked. "It means WaterClan has a huge advantage now." Category:Artimas Hunter's Fanfics